Bale processors are devices used to spread the content of bales of forage in a controlled way for reasons such as mulching or feeding livestock.
Examples of bale processors are shown in application PCT/US2011/058514, filed Oct. 31, 2011, to Graham et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,708,911 to Patterson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,711,824 to Hruska, U.S. Pat. No. 6,578,784 to Lischynski et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,886,763 to Lepage et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,581,691 to Helmeczi et al. and Published U.S. Patent Application No. 2006/0086857 to Lepage et al., all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Bale processors have a bin for receiving a bale to be processed. A bale cutter is disposed in the bottom of such bin and these bale cutters can be, and typically are, rotors with flails that extend up through bale support bars that support the bale so that only a small portion of the exterior of the bale is torn off by the flails at one time as the rotor rotates the flails in a circle. Also disposed in the bottom of the bin is a conveyor for moving the bale towards the bale cutter, usually rotating the bale at the same time that the conveyor moves the bale towards the bale cutter. These conveyors and bale support bars can, for example, be like those shown in FIG. 16 or 17 of published PCT application No. WO 2013/066287, published on May 10, 2013, which published application is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Because bales are not always uniform in shape, condition, material, density, moisture content, etc., some parts of the bale may break off evenly and some parts may not, causing wide and unpredictable variations in the load on the bale cutter as the bale cutter systematically removes those portions from the bale which are contacted by the bale cutter. Because of these wide and unpredictable fluctuations of the load on the bale cutter, it can be difficult to supply an optimum power from the engine/motor needed to rotate the bale cutter.
This problem is exacerbated by the fact that there is a significant spatial relationship between the bale conveyor and the rotor, causing an inherent uncertainty about the load on the engine/motor that is powering the rotor and conveyor and thereby making it even more difficult to operate the engine/motor at an optimum and efficient speed.
Accordingly, since there is typically not a uniform correlation between the load on the bale cutter and the power needed to operate the bale cutter in bale processors, there is a need for a method and apparatus for solving this problem (i.e., the ability to accommodate such a lack of uniformity).